BOOKS

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Interview: API team of Arizona!

I have to admit that I really enjoy being able to interview face-to-face. It makes the conversation flow and the questions can spring from the comfortable dialogue.

This interview was with Kyle McNatt (director) and James Kelly (investigator) from Arizona Paranormal Investigations; the most professional and forward-thinking ghost hunting team in the Southwest. I was thrilled they were willing to sit down with me and let me get them talking about paranormal investigations and their methodology.

I had seen James in action on hunts and his exceptional talent as an EVP collector impressed me a lot. He said when he started out he had been curious about EVPs and wanted to see if he could capture any. Over time, he learned more and more about how to control the EVP sessions for validity. His integrity is one thing that really caught my eye on hunts. He lines up recorders and then marks if they were near a window or door or where they were located. These sort of tagging techniques are critical when listening again, not only to know which recorder captured the voice, but to also consider if it was near a source of potential sound like a noisy street outside the window. He is now a believer in intelligent interactions with these voices in which a specific answer to a specific question can be obtained. He is curious by nature and, like me, open to lots of explanations for the paranormal. I made a mental note where James is concerned that he is the EVP expert I would want beside me on a critical hunt.

Kyle, the director and computer “techno-guy” explained to me that there is about a year-long training period for recruits. They try not to keep the team too large and they often get hounded by people wanting a spot when one opens, but on a team such as theirs, I understand they probably don’t lose members easily and that’s due to their standards and integrity. This logic-based approach to picking a team and getting a good mix is crucial and one reason why API is so sought after.

A majority of their cases involve private clients in homes and buildings with issues. They are so often approached that a method for weeding out the more critical cases has been designed. As well, businesses are interested in being evaluated and legitimized as a potential haunted spot. You can be certain that if this team has combed over a site and come to a conclusion, they are giving you a very well thought out and nonbiased answer.

When asked if they offer any cleansing techniques for clients, they said that they remain open-minded in working with clients; a combination of counseling and advisement along with any methods that apply to the clients’ belief systems are considered and applied.

I don’t know why I haven’t interviewed these bright boys before, but they impressed the hell out of me and in a field in which there are plenty of egos, boasting, territorial skirmishes and plain old nut cases, I was thrilled to find some hunters and a team that I would be proud to be associated with.

Hey Keith;I have to admit that in the majority of my cases, I don't even try to procure EVPs because the area is so noisy it precludes it. I am always conscious that while using a receiver (recorder), I could be capturing stay sounds. Once you eliminate happenstance and natural sounds, it's rare to get a good EVP. I have captured a few that made me wonder, but they weren't class A (so clear that anyone listening knows what it is saying). This is why I am so impressed with James (interview) because he is able to get very good EVPs under meticulous techniques and I know how damn hard that is. It takes a lot of patience and a lot of skill. He'd be my sound man for a hunt. I'd trust his findings.

those are the times you see how inportant must be power of speech in communication , there are times i am sure you have sort of mute interviews, kind of back to back, or face to back, so you left sort of in exile during interview. Did any of those guys fell for you and Julie?

Echo;It is great to be able to interview face to face when possible and especially because we just end up swapping ghost hunting horror stories of things that can go wrong and puzzling cases. I hope that in the future these guys might consider using my psychic skills to aid them like a bloodhound to the right place and right time to do studies and if a haunting is involving items, I might be better able to aid them on where to place them and prevent further activity. I would definitely work well with them. We shared almost exact attitudes about how to go about hunts and how to handle clients. Damn! I wish TAPS would be more flexible and evolve like these guys.

LinkWithin

About Me

I am a paranormal investigator who grew up in a Civil War field hospital where many unexplainable occurrences changed the course of my life. I spent my childhood digging up relics and helping my mother to uncover the history of the estate. A respect for man's history, archaeology and a curiosity about the unexplained universe rule my passion for my study and my theories on this site. The goal of this blog is to open minds and get people excited to seek that which they cannot explain.